<today’s guest blog is provided by pete thomas, who won $100,000 on the hit NBC reality show “The Biggest Loser” for losing the most weight overall. i (joshua) have had the privilege of meeting, speaking with regularly, and doing some freelance work for pete over the course of the last six months, and am honored that he took some time to write something up for this site. what follows is the second part of a his post, the first of which can be found here.>
The Number 16
The number 16 is the number that was given to me one day by my trainer. It was the result of tons and tons of tests on my severely obese body. It represented the minimal number of years that I was shaving off my life with my current lifestyle. Think about that. You have a number also, and it is not getting smaller.
How many years are you shaving off your life? How many of your children’s or grandchildren’s anniversaries and concerts will you miss? Will you miss your child’s or grandchild’s inauguration or wedding or ordination or election or premiere? Will you be here to see it?
I should not have to convince you of this but you have to commit to this!
The very first day I met my trainer was like a near death experience for me. I went from a completely sedentary life to 2.5 hours of intense workouts on DAY ONE and then 4 hours of exercise every day thereafter. Think about that. If I were to come pull you off the couch and take you down to the gym where we would do lunges and sprints and squats and push ups and jumping jacks and butt kicks FOR 2.5 HOURS STRAIGHT. No sitting on machines resting, no bathroom or water breaks, nothing! The only break you would get would be to throw up – and then you would have to get up and do everything all over again. That was day one. At one point I thought I was about 10 minutes from death. And you know what? If that is what it took – then I would have died right there.
You see, I was committed.
But the commitment did not come in the midst of that workout. The commitment did not come months before when I sent my first video tape in to NBC. It did not come when I drove to Indianapolis, Indiana for my private interview with NBC’s casting people. It did not come when I flew out to California to try out for the show. The commitment actually came the night before this ‘beating.’
The scene is this… We have been secluded in a hotel days just outside of LA for the past ten days. Then, we find out on this day that we were selected to be contestants on the NBC reality show “The Biggest Loser.” WOW!! “How awesome,” I thought. I made it!
We received word that we would be headed out to the Biggest Loser Ranch, and the van would be leaving at 3am. All night I was flooded with thoughts and feelings of excitement and anticipation. Then I was told that there will be no phones allowed on the ranch so I begin to make my last calls to everyone I could think of.
Then around 12am when I finally try to catch a couple hours sleep, I received a phone call from my Aunt who lives in LA. I had not spoken to her for years and I called her when I first got to LA ten days earlier. We had been missing each other for days and NOW she gets through, of all days. I tell her the good news about being on the show and then we start discussing the real reason that I had been trying to reach her. I wanted to know more about how I was raised and I knew she could tell me. I wanted to know if my Aunt knew anything about my sister Melay, whom I had not seen in nearly 30 years.
For about the last year I had been on a quest to find out who my father was. I even called some stranger in Texas who had the same birth name as my father. I had grown up in and out of foster care because of my mother’s mental illness and I really wanted to know more about my father whom I had never met. Well, my Aunt proceeded to talk to me for more than 2 hours and tell me things that I had never known about my family.
Then she tells me that my father actually died when I was less than 5 years old.
So here I am, 35 years old and I find out that the father I have been searching so intently for over the previous year actually died while I was young. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me. On top of this I am about to get into something that I have no information about or point of reference for whatsoever.
And I am tired. I’m emotionally spent. I can’t even sleep for the one hour I have left before I have to board the van.
So in the midst of all this emotional mess I actually make a commitment.
As I sat down at the polished wooden desk and look around my beautiful room I begin to speak to God. I said “GOD!! I don’t know what is in store for me today. But I do know that you blessed me to get here. So let’s make a deal — I will do whatever they tell me to do… Just don’t let me die.” I felt in my Spirit that he agreed to the deal.
And with those words, in the midst of all that emotional mess, I committed to losing weight.
So now fast forward to 7pm the next day. I have slept 1 hour in the last 36 and it is my turn to sprint against Jillian. “If you beat me I will end the workout right here. If you don’t beat me then we will be out another HOUR and a HALF,” she bellowed. Another 1.5 hours! I was nearly in tears. Another 1.5 HOURS! I remember thinking to myself, ‘I am going to die.’ I literally thought I only had about 10 minutes to live.
GO! And we’re off at a pace just faster than a crawl. I pumped my chubby arms and waddled my 400+ lb body with my 60” waist down that stretch of cement as fast as I possibly could and somehow managed to barely beat her, collapsing in a heap from exhaustion. Oh by the way, she was running backwards while we ran forward, but that is a minor detail ;- ).
Jillian was quite upset that I beat her and she asks the camera people if I had actually won (she is supposed to pretend that the cameras are not there.) She was really planning on that extra 1.5 hours.
When Jillian found out that I had actually won fair and square, she sat down next to me and propped me up, hugged me and said simply “Good job.” I managed to catch my breath long enough to tell her this – “Jillian, my wife prayed that I would get you as my trainer. Don’t let me go back fat.” Her answer was simple. “You won’t babe. You won’t.”
I tell you this story to highlight one thing. When I say that I felt like I was going to die, I mean it. Up until that point I had never been pushed so hard physically in all my life. In my life I have been hungry, homeless and left alone to fend for myself and my sister with no food, but I had never experienced anything this physically hard in my life.
But I was committed. This commitment affected that workout. This commitment affected every workout thereafter. I often brought our ‘agreement’ to God’s memory while I was on The Biggest Loser. “I won’t give up Lord. I won’t give up! Just don’t let me die Lord. Don’t let me die!”
Now let’s be honest; On your weight loss journey it is unlikely that you will ever push yourself this hard or even allow someone to push you like Jillian pushed me. You probably will not go through anything half this hard. But the question remains… Can you dedicate some time every day for yourself for the next 12 weeks to 12 months? Can you take some time for working out and eating right and journaling and calling your weight loss buddy and getting enough rest? Can you make a commitment? I mean a real commitment this time?!?!
You see, that first day on the Ranch, dying was a real possibility. Because giving up wasn’t.
Make a commitment and remember,
There’s a winner within you!
- Pete Thomas
One Comment
dying was a real possibility because giving up wasnt….. AWESOME!!!!